Mine car bearing assembly



1941- w. F. DIEH'RICHSON 2,

MINE CAR BEARING ASSEMBLY Filed "April .1, 1940 l INYENTC JR h zZ/mm[Dzei'rzclzsarz ATTORNE Patented Nov. 18, 1941 MINE CAR BEARING ASSEMBLYWilliam F. D-ietrichson, Berwick, Pa., assignor to American Car andFoundry Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication April 1, 1940, Serial No. 327,151

6 Claims.

This invention relates to mine cars in general and in particular to suchcars mounted upon antifriction bearings and 'with the sills locatedoutside the wheels.

The majority of early mine cars were built with the sills locatedbetween the wheels and with the bearings carried by the sills, therebynecessitating the wheels and axles to rotate either singly or as a unitwith respect to the bearings. The present trend in mine car building istoward large capacity cars and to obtain proper stability and increasedwidth it is preferable for the sills to be located outside of thewheels. It has been found that the most satisfactory location forantifriction bearings is in the wheel, thus giving freely rotatablewheels without the necessity of rotating the axle mass but in caseswhere the sills are located outside of the wheels it is difficult toadjust the hearings to compensate for wear. When adjustment for thebearings is provided by means extending through the sills, then thesemeans are frequently damaged due to striking rocks or track sideequipment. It is an object, therefore, of the invention to provide ameans for adjusting wheel bearings through the outside sill and whichmeans is protected by the sill itself.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an adjusting meansfor inside wheel bearings in which the adjusting threads are completelysealed to prevent their corrosion.

A still further object of-the invention is the provision of a new andimproved manner of loeating the adjusting means provided for adjustmentof the wheel bearing.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to'personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view taken through a portion of the mine carsubstantially at the axle line;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Figure 1,and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that theimproved bearing assembly has been applied to the side sill 2 of a carwhich may be of any desired type but is preferably of the type shown byJohnson Patent 1,555,982. The mine car sill 2 is supported on a supportbearing or box 4 preferably made as a single casting with outstandingears 6 and an upstanding flange 8 adapted to fit within a cut outportion of the side a stub shaft 36.

sill to takeside thrusts and thereby relieve the securing bolts or othermeans I0 extending through the sill and through the outstanding ears 6.The central portion of the bearing box is provided with a verticallyelongated opening l2 which is adapted to receive the axle end andassociated parts. The axle I4 is supported by wheels W and extendsoutwardly beyond the wheels and into the bearing boxes which aresupported thereon by means of a bearing adjusting sleeve It. Theantifriction bearings located in the wheels and supporting the axle onthe wheel are shown as of the type manufactured by the 'Iimken BearingCompany of Canton, Ohio, and comprise inner races l8, tapered rollers I9and outer races 20. An inner dust collar 22 is shrunk on the axle, whilean outer dust collar 24 closely engages the axle and is slidabletherealong in order to move one of the inner raceways. thus permittingadjustment of the bearing. This outer dust guard collar is held in placeand moved through its direct contact with the inner end of the bearingadjusting sleeve IS, the outer end of which bears against washer 26 orother suitable means.

Sliding movement of the dustlcollar 24, adjusting sleeve l6 and washer26 is accomplished through the medium of a hexagonal headed bolt 28having the shank 30 thereof externallythreaded to engage with internalthreads cut in an enlarged bore 32 drilled or otherwise formed in theend of the axle. The inner end of this bore is counterbored as at 34 toprovide'a portion of reduced area adapted to receive the inner end ofThe inner end of this stub shaft is drilled to receive a pin 38extending through the shaft and through holes bored transversely throughthe axle. This pin is of such a length, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, asto extend only through the axle and is thus held in position by theadjusting sleeve and in turn will prevent the rotation or removal of thestub shaft which will also be held substantially in alignment with theaxis of the axle due to the projection of the shaft into the reducedbore 34. The outer end of the stub shaft which projects outwardly beyondthe ends of the axle is slotted as at 40 in order to receive a pin orcotter 42 extending therethrough and through any one of the plurality oftransverse openings formed in the bolt head. As clearly shown, the bolthas the shank and a part of the head thereof bored out as at 44 toreceive the stub shaft 36. In order to prevent leakage of any moistureinto the threads on the bolt shank and in the axle a felt or other typewasher 46 is interposed between the ends of the axle and the washer 25and within the bearing sleeve I 6.

It will be seen that by removal of the cotter or pin 42 the bolt headmay be turned in either direction, thus applying force through thewasher 26, adjusting sleeve I6 and dust collar 24 to the inner race ofthe bearing, thereby accomplishing adjustment of the bearing with aminimum of effort and while the car is either loaded or empty. Uponreinserting the cotter or pin 42 the adjustment will be retained sincethe stub shaft 36 is securely locked to the axle and cannot turn. Itshould be noted that the head of the adjusting bolt is slightly roundedand that substantially the entire bolt head is located beneath the silland within the vertical plane of the outer face of the sill, thusminimizing the possibility of damage if the car should strike a rock orother track side obstruction.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it willbe obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts may bemade and all such modifications and rearrangements of parts arecontemplated as will fall within the scope of the following claims whichdefine my invention:

What is claimed is:

1. In an antifriction bearing including in combination, a shaft, abearing raceway on said shaft interposed between an inner fixed memberand an outer dust guard located at a point spaced from said shaftextremity, means for adjusting said raceway including a cylindricalelement closely encircling said shaft extremity, the inner end of saidcylindrical element normally engaging said dust guard and its outer endprojecting beyond said shaft extremity, a bolt threaded into the end ofsaid shaft having portions urging said cylindrical element against saidraceway, and means axially positioned in said shaft for securing saidbolt in adjusted position, the inner end of said last named means beingsecured by a pin confined by said cylindrical element againstdisplacement and the opposite end by a transverse element extending intosaid bolt.

2. An adjusting means for bearings for wheels positioned inward from theends of mine car axles of that type mounted for adjustment in bearingboxes to accommodate track inequalities and including in combination, adust collar normally engaging a bearing element for adjusting movementtherewith, cylindrical means slidable I upon said axle and verticallyshiftable with same in a bearing box, said cylindrical means bearingagainst said dust collar, means in threaded engagement with the end ofsaid shaft for engaging and adjusting said cylindrical means andbearings independent of said bearing box, and means for locking saidlast named means in adjusted position.

3. An adjusting means for bearings for mine car wheels of that typewherein the wheels are spaced between the side sills and in which theaxle assemblies extend beyond said wheels, the combination of, a sealingelement in adjustable engagement with said bearing, a cylindrical sleeveon said axle engaging said sealing element and extending beyond saidaxle extremity, said cylindrical element being slidable on said axleextremity and movable therewith, adjusting means in threaded engagementwith the end of said axle normally engaging said sleeve element, a pinarranged in the end of said axle and extending into said adjustingmeans, the inner end of said pin being fixed and axially aligned by saidaxle structure and being secured in position in said adjusting means byremovable securing means, and an axle box having a vertically elongatedopening for permitting adjustment of said axle to accommodate trackinequalities.

4. In a structure of the class described the combination of an axle, abox mounting the end portion of said axle for vertical adjustment, awheel bearing assembly spaced inward of said box, a guard element incontact with said bearing assembly and positioned in adjustable relationon said axle for cooperation with said bearing assembly in theadjustment of the latter, 9. cylindrical element on the end of said axleextending beyond each side of said box, one end of said cylindricalelement engaging said guard member and the opposite end of saidcylindrical member extending beyond the axle, means engaging said axleand the projecting end of said cylindrical member to urge the latteraxially of said axle to cause the adjustment of said bearing throughsaid guard member, and locking means therefor.

5. The substance of claim 4 characterized in that the box is providedwith a vertical elongated opening in which the axle and the cylindricalelement are arranged for vertical adjustment.

6. The substance of claim 4 characterized in that the locking meansincludes a stub shaft extending into a counterbore in said axle, a pinlocking said stubshaft to said axle, and a member extending through apart of said bolt to nonrotatably lock the shaft and bolt together.

WILLIAM F. DIETRICHSON.

